Yoga Block for a Happy Spine Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes) is one of yoga’s ancient poses. Named for the sage, Matsyendra, it is one of the relatively few yoga asanas written about in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. It is said to have been Matsyendra’s favorite yoga asana. In the article “Heroes, Saints, and Sages” at yogajournal.com, Colleen Morton Busch writes about the pose’s namesake: “Matsyendra appears to

Fourth Street Clinic Gives the Gift of Good Health In 1987, Dr. Allan Ainsworth was driving in Salt Lake City and saw a long line of people waiting for food and other social services. He thought to himself that no one should ever have to wait for basic life necessities. One year later Ainsworth founded Wasatch Homeless Health Care, Inc.,—now the Fourth Street Clinic—a place where homeless people could receive

Meatless Monday: Black Rice Pudding with Fruit Topping I love taking advantage of the availability of fresh, organic fruits in the summertime. While a fruit salad melange of whatever’s available is always a healthy, refreshing option, I also like to add fruit to other desserts. Fruit is inherently sweet on its own, so when I add fruit to a dessert, I want that dessert to be on the less-sweet side.

Supta Padangusthasana with a Yoga Strap Supta Padangusthasana is hands-down my favorite pose for addressing tight hamstrings. It’s also the safest in that it’s the least likely to irritate cranky low backs. Lying down to stretch your hamstrings gives you a constant reference point (the floor) to ensure you’re maintaining healthy spinal alignment. Using a Yoga Strap lets you to find the perfect angle for your leg that allows you

Cooling Ayurvedic Tips: Dos and Don’ts for the Dog Days We’re in the midst of the hottest days of the year now, the so-called Dog Days. Keeping our cool, through diet, exercise and self-care is important in helping us maintain balance in life, at work and in relationship with others. Stay Cool • Avoid midday sun. Keep covered when it’s unavoidable. • Exercise earlier or later in the day. We

Meatless Monday: Vegan Corn Chowder with Fresh Corn Off the Cob I may not be a fan of summer’s extreme heat, but I am am definitely a fan of the profusion of fresh produce available at Salt Lake City’s Downtown Farmers Market every Saturday. Last Saturday I came home with new potatoes, wild greens, okra, green and purple beans, and corn on the cob—all organic. It’s not always easy to

Foot Yoga: Take Care of Those Dogs! I’ve been blessed with many longtime yoga students. Many have attended my classes for more than 10 years, some for more than 20. It’s a privilege to move through life’s inevitable ups and downs with such a solid core of wise and wonderful humans. I met one of these students—I’ll call her Patricia—in the late ’80s. At that time she was in her

Meatless Monday: Kale Salad with Miso-Roasted Tofu As my backyard kale started to proliferate a few months ago, I posted a couple of kale salad recipes (here’s one and here’s the other). Even later in the season, I find that my fresh-picked, homegrown kale is much more tender than what I find at the store. Kale salads are a great way to use tender leaves, and this particular salad, that

Sankalpa: Setting Your Intention “Our intention creates our reality.” Wayne Dyer Until I took a yoga class, I’d never heard anyone talk about “setting an intention.” Years ago my father encouraged me to set goals, make outlines, form plans, but he never spoke about setting an intention. What did my yoga teacher mean, I wondered, when he spoke about setting an intention? What exactly was an intention—was it the same

Meatless Monday: Picnic Potato Salad with Marjoram and Pickled Onions Independence Day weekend may have just come and gone, but it is clearly not the end of potluck barbecue season. A few weeks ago I posted a recipe for tempeh skewers that lets vegetarians and vegans join the barbecue. Today I’m sharing a vegan version of another barbecue staple: potato salad. When I was a kid, I loved German potato